HAIKOU, May 28. /TASS/. The authorities in the southern Chinese province of Hainan create free canteens for socially vulnerable senior citizens and the elderly with disabilities. This was reported by the newspaper Sanya Ribao.

According to the newspaper, last week a regional center for social welfare and services, supervised by the Chinese Communist Party, was opened in Sanya last week with a canteen intended for the socially vulnerable categories of people. It receives visitors daily except Mondays when lunches and dinners are available at a different address: at the premises provided by the company which constantly serves food for the canteen.

"We will constantly improve the level of services provided to the population in the future, work to improve the functional features of our center," said Pu Shupin who represents the local party department.

According to the official, a standard free lunch usually costs 20 yuan (about $3), 95% of this amount is paid by government subsidies. Elderly people over 60 years old, who do not belong to the socially unprotected category of the population, but live in the nearest residential compounds can also have lunch in this canteen: they will have to pay 10 yuan.

According to the regional law enforcement agencies, the proportion of elderly people over the age of 65 on Hainan accounts for approximately 10%. About 300,000 people over 80 years old live on the island. Traditionally, Chengmai County in the northern part of the province is considered to be the homeland of the Hainan centenarians — the average life expectancy reaches 79.9 years there. In 2019 there were 170 citizens over 100 years old in that county.